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Brewer Plans $120m Bioenergy Facility in Scotland
UK - Scotland’s largest distillery, Cameronbridge in Fife, may soon be accompanied by a state of the art biomass- and biogas facility.Diageo, which produces beverages under well-known brands such as Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray and Smirnoff, has signed a partnership agreement with energy management company Dalkia to build the new facility. The company announced its plans earlier this month, following two years of research.
The envisioned bioenergy plant will integrate various technologies – including anaerobic digestion and biomass conversion – on a commercial scale. At an estimated cost of £65 million (USD 120m) it is heralded as the biggest single investment in renewable energy technology by a non-utility company in the UK. Estimated annual CO2 emissions reductions are projected to reach 56,000 tonnes which is the equivalent of taking 44,000 cars off the road.
The proposed facility, which is subject to planning approval, will provide 98% of the thermal steam and 80% of electrical power needed at the Cameronbridge distillery. Dalkia will construct the facility over the next two years after which it will be transferred to Diageo under a finance lease. Dalkia will continue to manage the facility. “This will be a showcase bioenergy facility which harnesses a variety of green technologies in a project of an unprecedented scale in our industry,” said Bryan Donaghey, Managing Director, Diageo Scotland.
Energy at the plant will be produced from a mixture of distillation waste products called ‘spent wash’ which includes wheat, malted barley, yeast and water. The spent wash is separated into liquid and dry components. The liquid is then converted, via anaerobic digestion, into biogas and the dried solids form a biomass fuel source. Around 90,000 tonnes of co-products, which would otherwise be transported off-site by road, will now be turned into bioenergy in the form of electricity and steam for use at the distillery. The facility will also recover almost a third of the site’s water requirements.
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